The present application generally relates to techniques for generating swath coverage patterns for working areas such as, e.g., agricultural fields, mining or construction work sites, and aircraft runways. More particularly, the application relates to methods and systems for automatically constructing a path for a vehicle such that generally the entirety of a predetermined area is traversed by the vehicle, or alternatively, traversed by equipment attached to the vehicle. The vehicle path is optimized to reduce drive time, and avoid covering portions of the predetermined area more than once.